Tigers, Toreros to tangle a 3rd time

STOCKTON - The Pacific men's basketball team will seek to extend its season into April when it hosts San Diego in a rubber game in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

Jagdip Dhillon

STOCKTON - The Pacific men's basketball team will seek to extend its season into April when it hosts San Diego in a rubber game in the quarterfinals of the CollegeInsider.com Tournament.

The Tigers (17-15) will host the Toreros (18-16) at 7 p.m. today at Spanos Center after the teams split their West Coast Conference matchups earlier this season. On Feb. 1, Pacific won 84-67 at San Diego, and the Toreros handled the Tigers 70-55 in Stockton two weeks later.

On March 19, Pacific beat Grand Canyon 69-67 in the first round of the CIT, then crushed Texas A&M-Corpus Christi 89-60 on Saturday. The Tigers might host a semifinal game on Tuesday if it advances. San Diego beat Portland State 87-65 and Sam Houston State 77-72 to advance. The Tigers are 11-2 in non-conference games this season and just 6-13 against WCC opponents.

"We're very familiar with one another," Pacific coach Ron Verlin said. "We know a lot of their calls and they know a lot of our calls and sometimes those are the toughest games to play."

San Diego coach Bill Grier prefers to play man-to-man, but Verlin expects some 1-2-2 zone as well. Verlin said the game could come down to the play of the backcourts, Johnny Dee (37 points in the CIT) and Christopher Anderson (30 points, 21 assists in the CIT) for San Diego, and seniors Andrew Bock (25 points in the CIT) and Sama Taku (30 points, nine assists in the CIT) for Pacific.

"That time off was good for us, so we're rejuvenated and we're having a lot of fun," Taku said. "We have (seven) seniors and we don't want to lose, we're just trying to extend this a couple more games."

Verlin is hopeful freshman T.J. Wallace can return tonight to provide some backcourt depth after he has missed both CIT games with a left knee strain. Wallace practiced on Monday and Tuesday and will be a game-time decision. While Wallace has been out, three Tigers, freshman David Taylor (10 points, 2 steals) and juniors Gabriel Aguirre (9 points, 4 rebounds) and Aaron Short (7 points, 4 rebounds) expected to assume bigger roles next season, played well off the bench on Saturday.

"This is a chance to get ready for next season," said Short, who's seen his role expand with senior Trevin Harris out with a torn labrum. "I want to step up and be a leader for next year, but right now we just want to keep this thing rolling."

Contact reporter Jagdip Dhillon at (209) 546-8292 or jdhillon@recordnet.com. and on Twitter @JagRecordSports